(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
- Biden called out House Republicans for considering punishing the 13 members of their party who supported his bipartisan infrastructure bill.
- "It's got to stop for the sake of America," he said Tuesday.
- 19 Republican senators also voted in favor of the $1 trillion legislation.
President Joe Biden on Tuesday rebuked House Republicans for wanting to punish the 13 GOP lawmakers who supported his bipartisan infrastructure bill, adding that he's never seen such behavior in Congress.
"Well I'm hoping, Jaime, that we can get back to a place where there's more civility in politics. I really mean it," Biden told Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison during a virtual town hall.
Punchbowl News reported earlier Tuesday that Republican lawmakers are considering retaliating against members of their party who voted in favor of the $1 trillion legislation by stripping them of their committee assignments. Some far-right Republicans, including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Lauren Boebert of Colorado, have publicly called for those members to be punished.
"I've never seen it like this before," Biden said. "It's got to stop for the sake of America."
"It's just not right," he continued. "We're going to change it though."
The president campaigned on restoring bipartisanship to politics amid a period of intense political polarization. Almost 10 months into his presidency, the infrastructure package is "the one thing we generated consensus on," he said.
The deal came about after months of negotiations between Biden and congressional Republicans and Democrats. The Senate passed the bill in August, followed by the House last Friday. The legislation now awaits Biden's signature. Thirteen House Republicans voted for the bill along with 19 GOP senators.
The package includes massive investments toward repairing the country's roads, bridges and highways, improving broadband connections, modernizing public transport and ports and airports. The bill also covers funding toward clean drinking water, electric vehicle chargers, expanding the power grid, among other measures.
"This legislation is going to change the lives of every American," Biden said during the town hall, before pivoting to former President Donald Trump's failure to pass infrastructure legislation in his four years in office.
"The last president told us we're going to get infrastructure done, but he couldn't get it done," Biden said. "So it was left to us and we got the job done."
Trump has repeatedly criticized the Republicans who approved the legislation and even threatened to support primary challenges to those lawmakers in the 2022 midterm elections.
"Very sad that the RINOs in the House and Senate gave Biden and Democrats a victory," Trump said in a statement on Sunday. "All Republicans who voted for Democrat longevity should be ashamed of themselves, in particular Mitch McConnell."